According to Julia Roberts, Coretta Scott King and Martin Luther King Jr. paid the hospital bill for Julia Roberts’ birth.
The Ticket to Paradise actress was asked who helped her family pay for her birth in a September interview with Gayle King. “Okay, her research is very good,” Roberts laughed. “The King family paid for my hospital bill. [Martin Luther King] and Corretta.”
The Roberts and King families met thanks to a theater school Walter Roberts, Julia’s father, operated in Atlanta. “One day Coretta Scott King called my mother and asked if her kids could be part of the school, because they were having a hard time finding a place that would accept her kids,” Roberts, who was born in October 1967, said. “My mom was like, ‘Sure, come on over,’ and so they just all became friends, and they helped us out of a jam.”
“In the ’60s, you didn’t have little Black children interacting with little white kids in acting school,” Gayle King added. “And Julia’s parents were welcoming, and I think that’s extraordinary, and it lays the groundwork for who Julia is.”
Today is Julia Roberts birthday! 55 years ago MLK and Coretta Scott King paid for her parents hospital bill after she was born. Can’t stop thinking about this since I read it. Here she is talking about it with @GayleKing https://t.co/5HvpNSUIYb pic.twitter.com/147x6d807W
— Zara Rahim (@ZaraRahim) October 28, 2022